What a Biden Presidency Means to Immigrants

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now the calls from immigrants on the changes that the Biden administration has already wrote and those that you hope that they will. Lira in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Thank you so much for calling in. Hi.

Lira: Hi, Brian. Yes. Thanks for taking my call. I have been in this country for about 25 years. It's the only country I've really known. I came here when I was seven from Albania with my family. The moment that I actually discovered that Biden had won the election, just this incredible relief took over my body to know that not only would things be different for me, but for people in my community who had been feeling so limited and oppressed in their lives. I'm talking about people within the Brooklyn community immigrants and non-immigrants and knowing that I would have the opportunity to finally go back and visit my family who I haven't seen in some cases for 20-plus years.

That level of integration is relevant to what you were speaking earlier about in terms of mental health, that level of lack of control that has been really weighing on the immigrant communities and has caused such deep anxiety and depression. That listing of that weight is going to have such an immense impact in the long-term for this country and our culture.

Brian: Lira, thank you for starting us off so wonderfully. Javaid in Suffolk County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Javaid.

Javaid: Hey, good morning, Brian. Long time listening. How are you doing?

Brian: Doing all right. Glad you're on. Tell us your story.

Javaid: Okay. I've been in the country for almost 30 years, daughter, 20 years old. I have green card and I did serve with the US army in Afghanistan for five years as a linguist. Since Trump put ban on a Muslim, it really made me upset. Then I had an anxiety for that four years. When Biden won the presidency, trust me, Brian, I didn't sleep for 24 hours. I was so happy and I was so vulnerable and I was telling my daughter, "Look, you and I serve the nation. I'm still in the same page. If I go somewhere overseas, I may not come back."

Brian: Tell me a little about your experience serving the nation. You work for the US army in Afghanistan, I see?

Javaid: I did work for the US Army as a linguist. I have a lot of certificate, a lot of letters from them that I did a lot of good jobs and I did have the interview and citizenship. What I'm thinking, this race and discrimination, it's everywhere actually. They denied my application for no reason. I have excellent, good moral, character, I have my own house, I pay my taxes, [unintelligible 00:03:10] This is my nation. 30 years in this country. I came from Afghanistan. I don't know Afghanistan more than I know New York. This is my home. This is my nation.

Brian: Javiad, I can hear how excited you are and that story about not being able to sleep for 24 hours when Biden got elected, not out of anxiety, but out of excitement. Thank you very much for your call. I appreciate it. 646-435-7280. Zeynab in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Zeynab.

Zeynab: Hi, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to just say that I am a DACA recipient. I've been in York for 20 years since I was 9. I'm very excited that Biden and his administration are not only preserving the DACA program so people like me could live with a peace of mind but also the plan to put in place a path towards citizenship for people like me and even beyond DACA. I wanted to just also let you know that I cried during election night, the day that President Trump won, former President Trump, and I also cried the day that Biden results were called. The cry was for very, very different reasons. I just wanted to also express that and just to say that I'm not only living with hope right now but also with peace of mind.

Brian: Zeynab, thank you so much and I'm so glad. Let's go next to Leila in Miami Beach. Lilly, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Leila: Hi, Brian. How are you? I hope you're doing well. I know we're probably hurrying up on this one. For me, it's because I live in Miami and I'm from Guatemala and I used to work for medical devices. I will leave really early in the morning like 4:35 when [unintelligible 00:05:21] of transplant would call. I look like your regular cleaning lady. I got racially profiled many times. I got stopped by policemen asking me for my green card when I don't have one. I'm an American citizen. I always love to tell the gonzález or whatever, Cuban policemen that was racially profiling me, I'll start with like, "Why don't we start with yours or you want to get you ass sued civilly?" That's how it is because I got racially profiled too many times and, Brian, I'm very passionate and everything, but I also have temper.

I'm very happy that Biden got elected. I have mild PTSD from a civil war in Guatemala. Three of my houses got blown up and Trump brought all that stuff out. I'm not having panic attacks anymore. I'm just happy for everyone that's in order in this country and in the world because look at Kamala. That just opens so many ideas and I'll get off the phone because I know you're in a hurry.

Brian: Leila, tell me one thing. Do you think you were racially profiled more during the Trump years?

Leila: Yes. Yes. I lived in Germany for six years. I got both of my arms broken up by baseball bats by neo-Nazis. I know when I'm racially profiled. I got racially profiled every day that I lived in Germany and I got racially profiled here. I got called a spic so many times in the public and I used to always think like, "Really, who's doing that?" because we're all Latin Americans, a lot out here. I'm like, "Which spic are you picking on today?" No, it was out of control. It was really out of control.

Brian: Leila, thank you very much. Eduardo, in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Eduardo.

Eduardo: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. I told your screener that, first of all, I used to be a greener. Now that I have permanent status, I am definitely grateful. I definitely did feel a lot of exhaustion when Trump was president because all the things he said and especially my family were Mexican Americans and the things he said about us when he was going down the stairs like, "Oh, Mexicans are rapists and criminals." I felt that in a way, it was [unintelligible 00:07:48], but I also felt that it was also just a glimpse as to what was going to happen with immigrant families all over this country.

I'm really grateful for President Biden, the fact that he is actually going to start reuniting children with their families separated at the border. That one for me was probably one of the most traumatic experiences of what I witnessed while in this country. Definitely, repealing the Muslim ban, that was another good one. I have a lot of friends who are Muslims and all of them are great, hardworking people who just want to contribute in this country and definitely the greeners. As I said before, I was formally one. I'm glad that they're going to be given the chance to stay in this country and to contribute and strengthen it better.

Brian: Eduardo, thank you so much. Conrad in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hello, Conrad.

Conrad: Hi. I'm Conrad. Assalamu alaikum and morning to everybody. First of all, solidarity with the woman who got the broken arm by these racist things. Thank you very much for the new administration, Brian. It's a good start. Let's raise up the courage to start from the really good start. I hope these immigration policies this time will be done forever. We will [unintelligible 00:09:19]. Since 1960, during the first time that immigration will open it for every human, not only European.

Then '80s immigration reforms. After that almost four decades, we needed to be done some good things. Brian, this immigration policy are why the people came is based on our foreign policy and the law. This thing I hope 40 years in Senate, this gentleman and the new woman face in the White House will get some love and tenderness towards the humanity.

Brian: Love and tenderness toward humanity are great words with which to end this segment. Conrad, thank you very much for calling in, and thanks to all of you who called in on this segment to tell some of your own stories and let other people who are not so subject to these policies personally, not always looking over their shoulders personally, to hear some of your stories. Thank you so much. Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

 

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